Why do I get 'Access to undeclared static property? (Laravel) - php

Question

I'm trying to validate some data. I found this tutorial at scotch.io. I'm using the following in my UsersController to attempt to validate some data:
public function store(){
$validator = Validator::make(Input::all(), User::$rules);
return Redirect::action("UserController#index");
}
However, I keep getting the error 'Access to undeclared static property: User::$rules'. Am I doing something wrong? I've attempted to use 'php artisan dump-autoload'
<?php
use Illuminate\Auth\UserTrait;
use Illuminate\Auth\UserInterface;
use Illuminate\Auth\Reminders\RemindableTrait;
use Illuminate\Auth\Reminders\RemindableInterface;
class User extends Eloquent implements UserInterface, RemindableInterface {
use UserTrait, RemindableTrait;
/**
* The database table used by the model.
*
* #var string
*/
protected $table = 'users';
/**
* The attributes excluded from the model's JSON form.
*
* #var array
*/
protected $hidden = array('password', 'remember_token');
protected $fillable = array(
'username',
'forename',
'surname',
'email',
'telephone',
'password',
'admin',
'customer',
'verification_link'
);
public static $rules = array(
'name' => 'required', // just a normal required validation
'email' => 'required|email|unique:ducks', // required and must be unique in the ducks table
'password' => 'required',
'password_confirm' => 'required|same:password' // required and has to match the password field
);
}

Answer 1

I had the same problem and I couldn't find a solution for me online, and I traced the problem with PHPStorm, and found out that my Class was defined "TWICE" and so it was reading the first one rather than the one I wanted which is the second one.
The problem you probably have is that your migration files include a migration file for the "User" table, and which defines its class as Class User extends Migration { and the definition of the Class User in your Model will go like Class User extends Eloquent and so the solution is to change one of them to either:
Class CreateUser extends Migration or Class UserModel extends Eloquent
and then use the Model's method according to your change, so you either keep it
User::$rules or UserModel::$rules and that's only if you've changed your Model Class name.